“Boy, what a close call!” Bud gasped weakly. “You played that thing like a toreador sidestepping a bull, Tom! Nice going!”
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The others echoed Bud’s sentiments, with fervent handshakes and backslaps for Tom’s skillful evasive action.
“Jest the same,” said Chow, “I’d sure like to make Narko an’ them Brungarian hoss thieves dance a Texas jig with a little hot lead sprayed around their boot heels! Sneakin’ bushwhackers! It’s jest like I told Hank about his airplane scheme-they’d try to gun us down, like as not, soon as they got their hands on Exman!”
“I guess you had them figured right, Chow,” Tom agreed wryly. “Well, at least we’ve lost their sub!”
The Brungarian raider was no longer visible even as a faint blip on their radarscope. Evidently Narko had thought the jetmarine a sure victim and headed back to his own base.
Nevertheless, Tom steered a wary zigzag course back to Fearing. When they arrived at the island, he immediately telephoned Bernt Ahlgren and Wes Norris in Washington to report the hijacking of the space brain. Both men praised the young inventor for his daring scheme to outwit the ruthless Brungarian rebel clique.
“If your idea pays off, Tom, we should be able to checkmate every move those phonies and their allies make!” Norris declared.
“I’m hoping we can do even better than that,” Tom replied. “Part of my plan is to help the Brungarian loyalists through Exman’s tip-offs.
140 THE VISITOR FROM PLANET X
With some smart quarterbacking, we might be able to rally the rightful government before all resistance is crushed out.”